This policy applies to all tenured faculty. Tenure may be granted to regular faculty with the titles “associate professor” or “professor.”
- Meet the Team
- Faculty Policies
- Faculty Appointments, Promotion, and Tenure
- Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty
- Professional-Track: Professor Title Series
- Professional-Track: Clinical Professor Title Series
- Faculty Development
- Resource Library for Faculty
- Additional Faculty Resources
- Tenure-Track and Tenured Faculty Review
Comprehensive Periodic Review
Each tenured faculty member at UT Austin is required to complete a Comprehensive Periodic Review (CPR) once every six years.
The CPR process is intended to provide faculty with:
- Guidance for continuing and meaningful development
- Assist faculty in enhancing their professional skills and achieving their professional goals
- Refocus academic and professional efforts, when appropriate
- Assess whether the individual is making a contribution consistent with that of a tenured faculty member
- Assurance they are meeting responsibilities to the University and the State of Texas.
Notification of Intent to Review: The “CPR clock” is started on the initial date of a faculty member's tenured appointment/hire date. Faculty due for a six-year evaluation will receive notification from Dell Med's Office of Faculty Academic Affairs no later than March 31.
What to Expect: The comprehensive review will focus on individual merit relative to assigned responsibilities, and contributions consistent with that of a tenured faculty member.
Materials for Review: The faculty member being evaluated must submit, or arrange for submission, materials for review listed below.
Required Materials:
- an updated CV using the Dell Med CV template,
- a summary statement of professional accomplishments in the areas of Investigation and Inquiry, Educational Leadership, Clinical Expertise (if applicable), and Academic and Professional Service during the time in which you have held tenure at Dell Medical School,
- annual reports and teaching evaluations (if relevant), including: annual review reports from each year during the CPR review period, and documentation pertaining to scholarship, learner evaluations, and service/honors,
- and any additional materials identified by the department/unit.
Optional Materials:
- a statement of professional goals,
- a proposed professional development plan, and/or
- any other materials the faculty member feels are important for review.
If the faculty member does not submit the required materials for their CPR, the review committee and supervisor(s) must still conduct the review, based on the evidence that is available.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who does this apply to?
What starts the “CPR clock” and can it be reset?
The “CPR clock” is started on the initial date of a faculty member's tenured appointment/hire date.
Yes, the CPR clock can be reset. The CPR clock for tenured faculty is started/reset by:
- Successful promotion to tenured full professor (a default CPR rating of “exceeding expectations” is assigned), or
- Initial appointment (promotion or hired) as tenured UT faculty.
Why do we do this?
The University is committed to periodic evaluation of tenured faculty intended to enhance and protect the important guarantees of tenure and academic freedom.
How does the promotion process relate to CPRs?
When a faculty member is promoted to tenured full professor a default CPR rating of “exceeding expectations” is assigned. Their CPR clock then resets to the date of their promotion effective date (for the tenured appointment) of the year their appointment is active.
Can a CPR be waived or deferred?
The evaluation may not be waived for any active faculty member, but may be deferred when the tenured faculty member is on approved personal leave without pay (personal LWOP) for medical reasons during the academic year when the CPR is being conducted. A deferral request must be submitted by the department chair via the dean to the Provost’s Office and no deferral may extend beyond one year from the scheduled review.
Point of clarity: If faculty have an approved personal LWOP or personal circumstance flag in their six years for consideration in the CPR, this DOES NOT defer the timeline for the review. The years in which an LWOP or personal circumstance flag was approved would count toward the faculty member's CPR "clock," however the CPR review committee should understand faculty productivity is expected to be lower or nonexistent in those years.
What is a personal circumstance flag and how can it impact your CPR timeline?
A Personal Circumstances Flag offers professional-track and tenured faculty the opportunity to designate a year within the scope of a multi-year review as having been impacted by personal circumstances as is available for tenure-track faculty. This notation, but not the reason for it, is available to review committees and provides context for that particular year being reviewed.
A Personal Circumstances Flag will never be automatically added to a faculty member’s record. A Personal Circumstances Flag can be rescinded at the faculty member’s request.
A Personal Circumstances Flag may be noted for reasons including but not limited to:
- General examples aligning with probationary period extensions including: disability or illness of the faculty member; status of the faculty member as the principal caregiver of a preschool child; or, status of the faculty member as a principal caregiver of a disabled, elderly, or ill member of the family of the faculty member
- COVID-specific examples:
- For a faculty member who is the principal caregiver for a dependent and COVID led to a lack of care availability (e.g., childcare, school, eldercare) for the dependent
- Sickness of individual or of their a dependent for whom the faculty member is the principal caregiver would already count under more general health of self and dependents.
In accordance with Texas Education Code Section 51.942 and Regent’s Rule 31002, Evaluation of Tenured Faculty, the review may not be waived for any tenured faculty member but may be deferred for one year in some circumstances.
Therefore, the Personal Circumstances Flag does not in and of itself adjust the timing of comprehensive periodic review. But it should prompt reviewers and peer review committees to reframe the review period for the faculty member. For example, if a faculty member is going through comprehensive periodic review and has been approved for one Personal Circumstances Flag during the period of time under consideration, the peer review committee should consider the body of work as having been completed in five years rather than six.
The personal circumstance flag needs to be requested prior to the CPR process start.
More Information
Available on the Provost’s Office Guidelines for Faculty Evaluation.
Questions? Reach out to your departmental contact or the Office of Faculty Academic Affairs.